The Patti Report-- Valentine's Weekend
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The Patti Report
“Date with James” and “Be My Valentine” Events
February 13-14, 2010
SATURDAY - “DATE WITH JAMES”
So, I haven’t written one of my reports for a while, but after a bunch of masochists...er...a couple of people asked me to, I promised I would write up a few words about the Valentine’s weekend with James. However, the more I tried to sit down and write it, the more enervated I became. It got so bad, even the thought of trying to write it would send me into near catatonia for days.
See, it’s like this: You know those ads for the credit card, right? It was exactly like one of those:
Cost to attend Dinner and Movie Date with James -- $$$.
Actually being *at* said event -- Priceless!
How does one describe priceless?! My tiny mind quails at the thought!
I hadn’t been able to afford to do much of anything for the better half of the past year -- buying a house in these economic times, even as little as mine cost, was probably not the brightest idea, but it’s so me to do things ass-backwards! In point of fact, I have not been able to go to anything James-related since “The Importance of Being Ernest” last summer, but I decided to go to the second annual (I hope) event at SOPAC (South Orange [New Jersey] Arts Center) because a) the first one was so much fun; b) I could go visit my daughter and grandson in nearby Vermont, and thereby double my pleasure/travel value in one fell swoop; and c) cross-country airfare and lodging was *really* cheap -- like, way less than the new iPad cheap! (Hi Roomie Happy Meals!) When the ‘date’ with James was announced, I knew I wanted to be one of the attendees; having been so long since I’d seen James, it seemed the perfect way to reconnect in a more personal and intimate setting. And was it ever!
I won’t go into the whole bidding war and all that, it is likely still somewhere on James’ Facebook page if you really want to see how it happened. But in my case, it was one of those OMG moments when it came up because I realized I would be somewhere over Pennsylvania at the exact moment the bidding ended, with no way to get in on what I knew would be (and was!) a last-minute feeding frenzy. I finally got around that little problem by asking my friend SilentJ to monitor the results for me and keep me in--up to a certain point. I told her the amount I thought I could spare -- which was somewhat less than the final amount -- but since I kept changing my max and hedging… I‘m such a Taurus, I have a hard time making up my mind! Since SJ is too, she only heard the unspoken “but I really really REALLY don’t want to miss it” and made sure to keep me in, knowing me as well as she does! I admit a tiny part of me cringed a little when she told me the amount--it was virtually all of my allocated vacation spending cash--but the vast remaining majority of me caused heads to turn and people to inch away from the crazy lady yelling and beaming like a loon, doing the Numfar Dance of Joy(tm) in the narrow aisle at the back of the plane! As I said, I really wanted to be a part of it, and I knew it would be money more than well spent--and was it ever!
OK, so now, I’m on my 5th paragraph and you’re thinking--OK, enough with the preliminaries, where IS the actual report!?! Um, well… I’m not going to write it after all. Not about Saturday, anyway. Heh. You see, we made a promise to James--and a pact with each other--to not reveal anything that was said there, and I finally realized that the majority of my ennui stemmed from my inability to break a promise to James. I know the promise wasn’t that we would say absolutely nothing, but I live just a few hours from Las Vegas and I’ve been subliminally advertised to death to think like they do--what happened at the party, stays at the party, as far as I’m concerned. You want more? Wriggle Rosie wrote a wonderful report here…
http://wrigglerosie.livejournal.com/15818.html
…if you are interested in the non-pact-y parts of the evening. She covered everything I would have--more, actually--and it is a lovely read. Go check it out, I’ll wait…
*Jeopardy timer music plays*
Welcome back. ;)
As for me, I’m keeping mum, except to say that it was worth every penny spent, and then some. It was one of the most interesting evenings I’ve had in a long time, bar none, and no matter what James does in the future, nothing will be able to match this marvelously one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated experience for the 11 of us that attended. (Yes, it was to be 10, but somehow it became 11, which was OK, because the group was about as perfect a dinner party gathering as one could hope for, given the nature of its formation by bid rather than invite. Plus, since two attendees were a married couple, I count them as one anyway!) ;) Oh, sure, James might decide to have more of these very special events someday in the future, but I cannot conceive of another one ever being as perfect as this one.
The food--catered Italian--was fantastic; the hosts--Steve Himber and his partner, Craig, and the lovely ladies of JMLive, Helen (who was celebrating the publishing of her first scientific article--congrats!), Marlaine and Peg--congenial and unobtrusively ubiquitous; and the evening, truly beyond words to describe adequately. Lively conversation and amiable, intelligent company at dinner was a great bonding precursor to the movie-viewing itself--Baz Luhrmann‘s “Romeo+ Juliet“. I have always thought this version to be a really good stab at modernizing Shakespeare, and while not the greatest ever, I have always been impressed with how well thought out and rich in detail it was. However, James brought to the evening the most fascinating insights and ideas about Shakespeare in general--and “Romeo and Juliet” specifically--and it was both fun and educational, literally hanging out together for several hours, digging on Shakespeare, absorbing and analyzing what James had to say, and the ensuing lively discussions that flowed freely all around. Needless to say, it truly was a dinner party among friends in every sense of the word. I’ve paid similar amounts for Creation Con meet-and-greet events--I’ve known people who’ve paid well more than twice as much as we did for the more intimate celebrity meet-ups there, which were still much shorter and much less intimate than our evening--but I cannot imagine anyone experiencing the joy and camaraderie we all felt that night. Even James felt it--the intimacy and openness of the night aside, he also made a completely off-the-cuff comment the next day during Q&A, when answering an unrelated, general question about Shakespeare, saying “I just watched…Romeo and Juliet last night with some friends and…” Ten little glowing spots lit up the SOPAC auditorium! (number 11, number 10’s husband-attendee, wasn’t there) ;) Yup--Priceless! :D
That’s it. I’m not saying another word about it. I’m hording all the lovely personal memories to myself. :)
SUNDAY - “BE MY VALENTINE”
Sunday was the main event, Be My Valentine, the American half of the “Love Hearts” events that began the weekend before in London, and which I, sadly, could not attend. It was supposed to start at noon, but as they began with the selling of extra photo ops, autographs, etc, plus a Commemorative Booklet created just for this event--the overwhelming demand for all of which took a bit longer than expected--it was well after one before anything really got rolling. This had a trickle-down effect of making the entire event run overly late, but we were not slighted nor particularly rushed in any way to make up the time. (although James did manage to squeeze in an entire concert in just under an hour--banter and all! Maybe he was the rushed one!) (Just a suggestion for next time to TPTB--send someone along early to do this during the hour before the event is scheduled to start; everyone gets there early anyway, to visit and such. It would flow better, keep down the long lines, and prevent overtime issues).
After everyone was loaded up with their goodies, which included a Valentine’s gift bag with chocolate and James collectible items, James was introduced to the crowd. He came out wearing a dark suit and white dress shirt, sans tie, and dress shoes. He looked both dapper and relaxed. His hair…defies description, except to say it was very long, wildly curly/wavy and flopping around like it had a life of its own (which, having naturally curly hair as well, I can testify that it often does!)--completely adorable and utterly sexy all at once. James’ hair at its current length begs to have fingers run through it--he does it a lot, in a losing battle of trying to control it--but I restrained myself from asking…barely!
James did photo ops first, and when it was my turn, he grabbed me sideways, posed us and ’snap’… then he expertly flipped me around for another pose…. Except I only had the one included with the event ticket (I usually only get one photo op…I *loathe* pictures of me--even having *one* taken is bad enough, as this one proved--but the time with James is worth the torture!) When I reminded them it was just one, James looked momentarily nonplussed, then just gave me an extra snug hug (the *why* picture-taking torture is worth it!) and I went floating away. :)
Next up was the main event of the afternoon--the reading of a selection of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. James does Shakespeare extremely well. This is a well-known fact. But this was truly a unique experience. Despite a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare in my sophomore year in high school by a truly forward-thinking teacher (thank you, Mr Freitag!), I had never read the Sonnets. They are seldom listed as a curricula; add in that I am not particularly big on poetry… they just never came up in my life, so this was a very fresh, new experience for me. And like that teacher in high school, James proved just as wonderful a teacher. It was like attending a particularly awesome college seminar--if James ever decided to become a teacher, I would be first in line to sign up for classes! He is enthusiastic about the subject and so very captivating to watch and listen to. He was so passionate and engaged that he ran over his allotted time by quite a bit, but it was worth every stolen second to let him finish. He spent 2 months researching and preparing for this event, doing the dramaturgy like the truly dedicated actor and individual he is. It was well worth the time he spent--this reading/linear notes session was terrific. The booklet I mentioned earlier was literally a copy of James ’playbook’ (so to speak) of the sonnets he read, including his notes and notations, with a lovely cover commemorating the day. I had him sign it as my autograph item later that day.
One side note: James was *very* emotional all throughout the sonnets reading, so moved he sometimes had a hard time getting ideas and readings out through a tear-choked voice. He mentioned several times that he was “in love” and added once that he’d just realized he was in love “a few days ago“.
James followed the Sonnets with a Q&A. At least half the questions were about the previous Sonnets reading and other Shakespeare-related questions (including a comparison of Nirvana with Shakespeare which caused him to break out into a few bars of “All Apologies“ and John Lennon’s “I‘m a Loser“). There were some of the usual questions, and this one guy asking a “guy” question about who James had slept with during his time on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer“ (at which, pretty much the rest of the *female* audience rolled their eyes, heh). (James said he decided not to sleep with any of them, which apparently made him more alluring. Dating advice from James! LOL!) Someone asked why his You Tubes with his son are backwards, and he basically said he can barely operate the computer. Heh! Asked if he would do a musical, he said it would have to be a modern one, because he couldn’t do “that ‘Carousel’ crap”; “Chicago“, “Rent” and “Sweeney Todd” were mentioned as acceptable. He sees us as being in the middle of the sexual revolution that began in the 70s, but only halfway through it -- there are feminists, but the idea of “male-ists” is unthinkable at this point. He said the labels we use which divide us as people (like “feminist“, ethnocentricities, or even “plumber-ist” as he put it) need to be eliminated and that this revolution is only half of a *Humanist* movement. That the commonalities of the human race far outweigh our differences, and things like love of family and enjoyment of music (the arts) unite us, because we all have a similar reactions to, and a planet-wide commonality with, those types of things--those which occupy majority of our lives--in general.
I asked him about the Dresden books he does the audio readings for. As I told him, he is the only thing that can keep me awake when I am on my 20th hour of driving (I drive for a living and am on the road A LOT. Seriously. My not-yet-4-year-old car has well over 290,000 miles on it!) and I have a lot of time to think on those endless miles. As much as I’d like him to be Harry, he doesn’t fit the profile. I told him I know who I’d cast him as in a big-budget version of The Dresden Files (no, NOT Thomas! Too ‘been there, done vamp‘) but wondered who he would like to see himself cast as. He thought about it and said “Bob!” I did try to tell him ’but then he wouldn’t be seen!’, but he liked the idea of being Bob a lot! I then told him I thought he’d be great as Marcone, but *he* didn’t think he fit that profile (I think he’s perfect!) and while I also think he’d be even better as Nicodemus, he’s only appeared twice in the novels, and I’d rather James have a more oft-seen character! He seemed to favorably ponder the idea of Nicodemus a bit, then grinned and moved on.
I don’t remember much else -- I didn’t make my usual notes of the Q&A and I don’t remember anything else that was especially revealing being asked, nor any new information being dropped. That’s all I’ve got, sorry!
One thing I guess I should add, because it was part of the event--but I‘m not trying to self-aggrandize here. I just mentioned that I travel a lot, which involves stopping at a lot of weird and interesting places (I won’t even tell you the T-shirt I got for James, heh). At one such stop, I found a bunch of HUGE Valentine’s Day cards--like, 3 foot cards! I read them all and found one that was perfect to give James from *everyone* -- it basically said something along the lines of ‘sometimes in life someone special comes along who makes everyone’s lives around them that much better just by being in their lives‘, and that he ‘was one of those special people‘. Simple and not overtly smushy and perfect for how I know the vast majority of us feel about James. I think I managed to get every single person attending to sign it, and at the end of the Q&A, was given a moment to give it to him. As I was not trying to take personal credit for it (and I was stuck in my center seat anyway), and as I meant for it to be from everyone to James, I just quietly passed it up the rows until it reached him. He was very tickled by it--the huge, excited grin he got upon seeing it was priceless! (there’s that word again!) He asked if everyone had signed it and then said, “Right on! See! Now my kids will know I’m famous!” LOL!
The final portion of the afternoon was the autographs. I was pretty far back, 5th row (out of 6), so I went towards the end, at least an hour after the event was supposed to end! By then, my daughter and my mother, who had opted to come along on the cheap travel plan to visit the ‘kids’ as well, had arrived at SOPAC. My daughter went to the concert last year, and wanted to go again this year (I will make a fan of her yet!), and rather than leave my mom all alone at the hotel, I got a concert ticket for her as well. Mom enjoys the photos and stories of James I bring home--she proof-reads these reports for me--I felt it was time to have her experience him live!
Anyway, they arrived in time for the dinner reservations we were supposed to have had but never got to, and rather than have them wait around in the freezing cold (my mom may be spry and young at heart, but she *is* 91!), I told them to slip in the back of the auditorium where it was warm to wait for me. So, of course, when it was finally my turn at autographs, I couldn’t resist pointing to them and telling James that my daughter, whom he met last year, was here AND my mother for her first-ever show. He looked up and when he saw them grinned hugely, waved and yelled, “HI MOM! YOUR DAUGHTER ROCKS!” In the moment of JamesFog, I thought he meant *my* daughter, because she sings and he’s heard her and I was nodding and agreeing … oh … wait, he’s talking to *my* mom… oh! Hey! He means me! That *I* rock! Heh! By then I was all flustered and grinning like an idiot, trying to get out a thank you! LOL! He just grinned, and I, of course, pretty much forgot whatever else I was going to say in the wake of that megawatt smile. As it was getting later and later, I just left after giving him a couple of things I had picked up for him in my travels. Nothing I could say or do--or that James might say or do in reply--could top the previous evening, so I didn’t feel a need to hang longer than necessary, and time was becoming quite the issue by then, anyway. I figured I could hurry myself for the sake of others getting their time with James.
(BTW--Mom was suitably impressed, saying of the concert, he was so very “real and normal”. Especially after observing the autograph session and his interactions with each person, she later told me she saw for herself how loving and accessible he was with everyone--no huge entourage keeping him isolated--and was very impressed by it; high praise from my Mom! She says, while she‘s not a fan of the types of TV shows he‘s on, she is a fan of *James* now. Another conquest!) :)
We then had a dinner break. Our reservations were totally gone, of course, being over an hour late, and the wait at that particular restaurant was longer than we had available, so we found a local diner that had surprisingly great, albeit plebian food. We returned with just enough time to get comfortable, and it was time for the concert.
James came out sans jacket and with his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows. He said it was his turn to do *his* songs now…then laughed at his presumption, humorously holding a conversation with Shakespeare, saying, “Oh yeah? Who’s dead!“ LOL! As previously mentioned, James managed to squeeze his entire set--18 songs with commentary and encore!--into an hour! He stuck to all his romantic songs in honor of it being Valentine‘s Day, though I’m not sure if the sad, broken-hearted songs should qualify as romantic! He did say he tried to remove those, but that so many of them *were*… *helpless shrug* Heh!
The set {with some >(commentary notes)}:
London City
>(Introduced “Chow” his South Korean “partner” guitar, which has traveled the world with James “making love to lots of people”)
Looking at You
Layabout
>(He mentioned his son and how far advanced he is in guitar playing now, as to be better than James himself, and said we’d meet him someday, he *so* wants to play for us--begging his dad to take him on the road and saying he’s good and he’d work cheap--LOL!)
Too Fast
All That She Wanted
>(nod to sound guy, Randy)
Dangerous
>(He then started singing the opening few bars to “David Letterman”, then stopped and laughed, saying he always wants to do that. NOTE: DL follows “Dangerous” on the GotR album, “Mad Brilliant“)
This Town
Over Now/Poor Robyn (I can never remember which is the title now!)
>(James said this was the room with the most cool people in all of NY and NJ, because the title “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” keeps those without imagination or intelligence out of the room. “Do yourself a favor, meet someone you don’t know tonight; you will be happy the rest of your life!” James loves his ‘community‘!)
Dance Slow (me-YAY! Love this song and he doesn‘t often do it)
Up on Me
For What I Need
Goodbye
Fall of Night
>(James announced he has two more songs, then he’ll “pretend to go away, and you all gotta be all rambunctious and stuff; call me be back so I can feel good about myself, OK? *self-deprecating giggle*” LOL!)
Angel (“Needless to say that was for Helena, wherever you are”)
>(a new Katie story is below)
Katie
>(“I’m going to pretend to go away, and you pretend to go crazy”)
Encore:
>(with a chuckle and a “yeah” he then says “Oh, I’m gonna be full of myself on the phone tonight! [in pseudo-smug voice] You know, I‘m really cool!” LOL!)
Smile
Finer Than Gold
>(he said this was his most recent, but he said he would start writing again soon)
MoonShot
He then thanked us -- because of us he has had a “fulfilled and interesting life“, one he never would have had if we didn’t “show up to watch me do my weird shit, man” LOL! He then asked if the person who’d asked for the set list was there (no) so he crumpled it up and threw it as hard as he could and said “Sorry everyone else!” Then he said “I love you all!” and that was the end.
He sounded good and had a lot of other funny and interesting repartee in between songs as usual; however, this one story stands out the most for me…
James’ song “Katie” was first introduced in Chicago 2003 as part of the Ghost of the Robot set list. At that time, he told the story of a crew member on Buffy that he’d taken a fancy to, but who had turned him down for a date. Later, when they were playing in San Francisco, he added that she was probably gay (after watching two girls fooling around with each other in front of him during the song, I always assumed, since I was there and saw it all), and the “She was gay” story stuck. Fast forward to this concert. James said he very recently had an interesting twist happen and a follow up story to tell about Katie…
When he did “Lie to Me“, a guy in the Prop Dept came up and told James his song Katie was about his wife! He then showed James a picture of her…in the hospital with their baby. James then told us the full story: At the time, he wanted to ask her out but he was kind of hesitant--she worked in props dept. on “Buffy“--but he had determined that he wanted to seek out a woman who had had a decent relationship with her father (so she would see he was a decent man), as he felt that such a woman would be better in a relationship with him (he said he’d been dating successively hotter women who were worse and worse for him, and he wanted to break that cycle). As Katie had the ”Dad” tattoo on her neck, he was interested. So, he went to her coworker, a young gay guy in her department, and asked him if she was single or if she was with someone. He did this humorous imitation of the coworker giving him ’the evil eye’ with arms folded and telling him, in a flat, *rolls eyes* kind of tone, “No, James, she’s not single, she’s with someone.” James apparently took his reply--and the tone and manner it was given in--to mean she was gay, and gave up. He said when he wrote the song, he didn’t know if she was gay, and after asking about her and getting this reply, ignorance piled on ignorance over time. He then said, it goes to prove that one should never give up, but that it had a happy ending for him “named Patricia”. I admit, I got a huge kick out of hearing the full story after all these years of hearing the evolving tale of “Katie”!
And that’s it, except to say I will be eternally delighted over this weekend. Yes, the event was a tad costly, but I have absolutely no regrets, even when I’m eating Ramen for the 5th --or 15th-- day in a row (kidding), or avoiding the mall because I don’t have extra money to burn. Not that I care--I’ve never really been all that hung up on keeping up with the Joneses--no need for owning the latest gadget, no desire for season court-side tickets to the Knicks, no must-have the latest crappy but ridiculously-expensive-for-no-reason designer fashions--it’s not my thing. (I make a terrible Capitalist. No over-consumption of goods for me!) As I see it, you can’t take ‘stuff’ with you when you die, anyway; if there is an existence after this one, I figure only your memories and experiences--what’s in your mind and heart--will go along with you. And I am quite rich there--a loving family; a lifetime of memories of things I’ve done and seen, because I allow myself to actually live life now while I can; a wonderful gaggle of friends both in and out of fandom, and James… The whole Valentine’s weekend merely enriched me that much more.
It was a blast seeing and talking to so many people while getting the card signed--newbies (Hi Karo, Vicky, Adrian and Chad!) and old friends (there’s too many to name, but you guys know who you are!) alike. Reconnecting--reaffirming Community. Oh and it was a blast hanging out with *that guy*, too. ;) All in all, it was a weekend I will never forget, even among the wealth of memories I already have of James! I am a millionaire, indeed!
Peace
Patti :)
The Patti Report
“Date with James” and “Be My Valentine” Events
February 13-14, 2010
SATURDAY - “DATE WITH JAMES”
So, I haven’t written one of my reports for a while, but after a bunch of masochists...er...a couple of people asked me to, I promised I would write up a few words about the Valentine’s weekend with James. However, the more I tried to sit down and write it, the more enervated I became. It got so bad, even the thought of trying to write it would send me into near catatonia for days.
See, it’s like this: You know those ads for the credit card, right? It was exactly like one of those:
Cost to attend Dinner and Movie Date with James -- $$$.
Actually being *at* said event -- Priceless!
How does one describe priceless?! My tiny mind quails at the thought!
I hadn’t been able to afford to do much of anything for the better half of the past year -- buying a house in these economic times, even as little as mine cost, was probably not the brightest idea, but it’s so me to do things ass-backwards! In point of fact, I have not been able to go to anything James-related since “The Importance of Being Ernest” last summer, but I decided to go to the second annual (I hope) event at SOPAC (South Orange [New Jersey] Arts Center) because a) the first one was so much fun; b) I could go visit my daughter and grandson in nearby Vermont, and thereby double my pleasure/travel value in one fell swoop; and c) cross-country airfare and lodging was *really* cheap -- like, way less than the new iPad cheap! (Hi Roomie Happy Meals!) When the ‘date’ with James was announced, I knew I wanted to be one of the attendees; having been so long since I’d seen James, it seemed the perfect way to reconnect in a more personal and intimate setting. And was it ever!
I won’t go into the whole bidding war and all that, it is likely still somewhere on James’ Facebook page if you really want to see how it happened. But in my case, it was one of those OMG moments when it came up because I realized I would be somewhere over Pennsylvania at the exact moment the bidding ended, with no way to get in on what I knew would be (and was!) a last-minute feeding frenzy. I finally got around that little problem by asking my friend SilentJ to monitor the results for me and keep me in--up to a certain point. I told her the amount I thought I could spare -- which was somewhat less than the final amount -- but since I kept changing my max and hedging… I‘m such a Taurus, I have a hard time making up my mind! Since SJ is too, she only heard the unspoken “but I really really REALLY don’t want to miss it” and made sure to keep me in, knowing me as well as she does! I admit a tiny part of me cringed a little when she told me the amount--it was virtually all of my allocated vacation spending cash--but the vast remaining majority of me caused heads to turn and people to inch away from the crazy lady yelling and beaming like a loon, doing the Numfar Dance of Joy(tm) in the narrow aisle at the back of the plane! As I said, I really wanted to be a part of it, and I knew it would be money more than well spent--and was it ever!
OK, so now, I’m on my 5th paragraph and you’re thinking--OK, enough with the preliminaries, where IS the actual report!?! Um, well… I’m not going to write it after all. Not about Saturday, anyway. Heh. You see, we made a promise to James--and a pact with each other--to not reveal anything that was said there, and I finally realized that the majority of my ennui stemmed from my inability to break a promise to James. I know the promise wasn’t that we would say absolutely nothing, but I live just a few hours from Las Vegas and I’ve been subliminally advertised to death to think like they do--what happened at the party, stays at the party, as far as I’m concerned. You want more? Wriggle Rosie wrote a wonderful report here…
http://wrigglerosie.livejournal.com/15818.html
…if you are interested in the non-pact-y parts of the evening. She covered everything I would have--more, actually--and it is a lovely read. Go check it out, I’ll wait…
*Jeopardy timer music plays*
Welcome back. ;)
As for me, I’m keeping mum, except to say that it was worth every penny spent, and then some. It was one of the most interesting evenings I’ve had in a long time, bar none, and no matter what James does in the future, nothing will be able to match this marvelously one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated experience for the 11 of us that attended. (Yes, it was to be 10, but somehow it became 11, which was OK, because the group was about as perfect a dinner party gathering as one could hope for, given the nature of its formation by bid rather than invite. Plus, since two attendees were a married couple, I count them as one anyway!) ;) Oh, sure, James might decide to have more of these very special events someday in the future, but I cannot conceive of another one ever being as perfect as this one.
The food--catered Italian--was fantastic; the hosts--Steve Himber and his partner, Craig, and the lovely ladies of JMLive, Helen (who was celebrating the publishing of her first scientific article--congrats!), Marlaine and Peg--congenial and unobtrusively ubiquitous; and the evening, truly beyond words to describe adequately. Lively conversation and amiable, intelligent company at dinner was a great bonding precursor to the movie-viewing itself--Baz Luhrmann‘s “Romeo+ Juliet“. I have always thought this version to be a really good stab at modernizing Shakespeare, and while not the greatest ever, I have always been impressed with how well thought out and rich in detail it was. However, James brought to the evening the most fascinating insights and ideas about Shakespeare in general--and “Romeo and Juliet” specifically--and it was both fun and educational, literally hanging out together for several hours, digging on Shakespeare, absorbing and analyzing what James had to say, and the ensuing lively discussions that flowed freely all around. Needless to say, it truly was a dinner party among friends in every sense of the word. I’ve paid similar amounts for Creation Con meet-and-greet events--I’ve known people who’ve paid well more than twice as much as we did for the more intimate celebrity meet-ups there, which were still much shorter and much less intimate than our evening--but I cannot imagine anyone experiencing the joy and camaraderie we all felt that night. Even James felt it--the intimacy and openness of the night aside, he also made a completely off-the-cuff comment the next day during Q&A, when answering an unrelated, general question about Shakespeare, saying “I just watched…Romeo and Juliet last night with some friends and…” Ten little glowing spots lit up the SOPAC auditorium! (number 11, number 10’s husband-attendee, wasn’t there) ;) Yup--Priceless! :D
That’s it. I’m not saying another word about it. I’m hording all the lovely personal memories to myself. :)
SUNDAY - “BE MY VALENTINE”
Sunday was the main event, Be My Valentine, the American half of the “Love Hearts” events that began the weekend before in London, and which I, sadly, could not attend. It was supposed to start at noon, but as they began with the selling of extra photo ops, autographs, etc, plus a Commemorative Booklet created just for this event--the overwhelming demand for all of which took a bit longer than expected--it was well after one before anything really got rolling. This had a trickle-down effect of making the entire event run overly late, but we were not slighted nor particularly rushed in any way to make up the time. (although James did manage to squeeze in an entire concert in just under an hour--banter and all! Maybe he was the rushed one!) (Just a suggestion for next time to TPTB--send someone along early to do this during the hour before the event is scheduled to start; everyone gets there early anyway, to visit and such. It would flow better, keep down the long lines, and prevent overtime issues).
After everyone was loaded up with their goodies, which included a Valentine’s gift bag with chocolate and James collectible items, James was introduced to the crowd. He came out wearing a dark suit and white dress shirt, sans tie, and dress shoes. He looked both dapper and relaxed. His hair…defies description, except to say it was very long, wildly curly/wavy and flopping around like it had a life of its own (which, having naturally curly hair as well, I can testify that it often does!)--completely adorable and utterly sexy all at once. James’ hair at its current length begs to have fingers run through it--he does it a lot, in a losing battle of trying to control it--but I restrained myself from asking…barely!
James did photo ops first, and when it was my turn, he grabbed me sideways, posed us and ’snap’… then he expertly flipped me around for another pose…. Except I only had the one included with the event ticket (I usually only get one photo op…I *loathe* pictures of me--even having *one* taken is bad enough, as this one proved--but the time with James is worth the torture!) When I reminded them it was just one, James looked momentarily nonplussed, then just gave me an extra snug hug (the *why* picture-taking torture is worth it!) and I went floating away. :)
Next up was the main event of the afternoon--the reading of a selection of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. James does Shakespeare extremely well. This is a well-known fact. But this was truly a unique experience. Despite a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare in my sophomore year in high school by a truly forward-thinking teacher (thank you, Mr Freitag!), I had never read the Sonnets. They are seldom listed as a curricula; add in that I am not particularly big on poetry… they just never came up in my life, so this was a very fresh, new experience for me. And like that teacher in high school, James proved just as wonderful a teacher. It was like attending a particularly awesome college seminar--if James ever decided to become a teacher, I would be first in line to sign up for classes! He is enthusiastic about the subject and so very captivating to watch and listen to. He was so passionate and engaged that he ran over his allotted time by quite a bit, but it was worth every stolen second to let him finish. He spent 2 months researching and preparing for this event, doing the dramaturgy like the truly dedicated actor and individual he is. It was well worth the time he spent--this reading/linear notes session was terrific. The booklet I mentioned earlier was literally a copy of James ’playbook’ (so to speak) of the sonnets he read, including his notes and notations, with a lovely cover commemorating the day. I had him sign it as my autograph item later that day.
One side note: James was *very* emotional all throughout the sonnets reading, so moved he sometimes had a hard time getting ideas and readings out through a tear-choked voice. He mentioned several times that he was “in love” and added once that he’d just realized he was in love “a few days ago“.
James followed the Sonnets with a Q&A. At least half the questions were about the previous Sonnets reading and other Shakespeare-related questions (including a comparison of Nirvana with Shakespeare which caused him to break out into a few bars of “All Apologies“ and John Lennon’s “I‘m a Loser“). There were some of the usual questions, and this one guy asking a “guy” question about who James had slept with during his time on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer“ (at which, pretty much the rest of the *female* audience rolled their eyes, heh). (James said he decided not to sleep with any of them, which apparently made him more alluring. Dating advice from James! LOL!) Someone asked why his You Tubes with his son are backwards, and he basically said he can barely operate the computer. Heh! Asked if he would do a musical, he said it would have to be a modern one, because he couldn’t do “that ‘Carousel’ crap”; “Chicago“, “Rent” and “Sweeney Todd” were mentioned as acceptable. He sees us as being in the middle of the sexual revolution that began in the 70s, but only halfway through it -- there are feminists, but the idea of “male-ists” is unthinkable at this point. He said the labels we use which divide us as people (like “feminist“, ethnocentricities, or even “plumber-ist” as he put it) need to be eliminated and that this revolution is only half of a *Humanist* movement. That the commonalities of the human race far outweigh our differences, and things like love of family and enjoyment of music (the arts) unite us, because we all have a similar reactions to, and a planet-wide commonality with, those types of things--those which occupy majority of our lives--in general.
I asked him about the Dresden books he does the audio readings for. As I told him, he is the only thing that can keep me awake when I am on my 20th hour of driving (I drive for a living and am on the road A LOT. Seriously. My not-yet-4-year-old car has well over 290,000 miles on it!) and I have a lot of time to think on those endless miles. As much as I’d like him to be Harry, he doesn’t fit the profile. I told him I know who I’d cast him as in a big-budget version of The Dresden Files (no, NOT Thomas! Too ‘been there, done vamp‘) but wondered who he would like to see himself cast as. He thought about it and said “Bob!” I did try to tell him ’but then he wouldn’t be seen!’, but he liked the idea of being Bob a lot! I then told him I thought he’d be great as Marcone, but *he* didn’t think he fit that profile (I think he’s perfect!) and while I also think he’d be even better as Nicodemus, he’s only appeared twice in the novels, and I’d rather James have a more oft-seen character! He seemed to favorably ponder the idea of Nicodemus a bit, then grinned and moved on.
I don’t remember much else -- I didn’t make my usual notes of the Q&A and I don’t remember anything else that was especially revealing being asked, nor any new information being dropped. That’s all I’ve got, sorry!
One thing I guess I should add, because it was part of the event--but I‘m not trying to self-aggrandize here. I just mentioned that I travel a lot, which involves stopping at a lot of weird and interesting places (I won’t even tell you the T-shirt I got for James, heh). At one such stop, I found a bunch of HUGE Valentine’s Day cards--like, 3 foot cards! I read them all and found one that was perfect to give James from *everyone* -- it basically said something along the lines of ‘sometimes in life someone special comes along who makes everyone’s lives around them that much better just by being in their lives‘, and that he ‘was one of those special people‘. Simple and not overtly smushy and perfect for how I know the vast majority of us feel about James. I think I managed to get every single person attending to sign it, and at the end of the Q&A, was given a moment to give it to him. As I was not trying to take personal credit for it (and I was stuck in my center seat anyway), and as I meant for it to be from everyone to James, I just quietly passed it up the rows until it reached him. He was very tickled by it--the huge, excited grin he got upon seeing it was priceless! (there’s that word again!) He asked if everyone had signed it and then said, “Right on! See! Now my kids will know I’m famous!” LOL!
The final portion of the afternoon was the autographs. I was pretty far back, 5th row (out of 6), so I went towards the end, at least an hour after the event was supposed to end! By then, my daughter and my mother, who had opted to come along on the cheap travel plan to visit the ‘kids’ as well, had arrived at SOPAC. My daughter went to the concert last year, and wanted to go again this year (I will make a fan of her yet!), and rather than leave my mom all alone at the hotel, I got a concert ticket for her as well. Mom enjoys the photos and stories of James I bring home--she proof-reads these reports for me--I felt it was time to have her experience him live!
Anyway, they arrived in time for the dinner reservations we were supposed to have had but never got to, and rather than have them wait around in the freezing cold (my mom may be spry and young at heart, but she *is* 91!), I told them to slip in the back of the auditorium where it was warm to wait for me. So, of course, when it was finally my turn at autographs, I couldn’t resist pointing to them and telling James that my daughter, whom he met last year, was here AND my mother for her first-ever show. He looked up and when he saw them grinned hugely, waved and yelled, “HI MOM! YOUR DAUGHTER ROCKS!” In the moment of JamesFog, I thought he meant *my* daughter, because she sings and he’s heard her and I was nodding and agreeing … oh … wait, he’s talking to *my* mom… oh! Hey! He means me! That *I* rock! Heh! By then I was all flustered and grinning like an idiot, trying to get out a thank you! LOL! He just grinned, and I, of course, pretty much forgot whatever else I was going to say in the wake of that megawatt smile. As it was getting later and later, I just left after giving him a couple of things I had picked up for him in my travels. Nothing I could say or do--or that James might say or do in reply--could top the previous evening, so I didn’t feel a need to hang longer than necessary, and time was becoming quite the issue by then, anyway. I figured I could hurry myself for the sake of others getting their time with James.
(BTW--Mom was suitably impressed, saying of the concert, he was so very “real and normal”. Especially after observing the autograph session and his interactions with each person, she later told me she saw for herself how loving and accessible he was with everyone--no huge entourage keeping him isolated--and was very impressed by it; high praise from my Mom! She says, while she‘s not a fan of the types of TV shows he‘s on, she is a fan of *James* now. Another conquest!) :)
We then had a dinner break. Our reservations were totally gone, of course, being over an hour late, and the wait at that particular restaurant was longer than we had available, so we found a local diner that had surprisingly great, albeit plebian food. We returned with just enough time to get comfortable, and it was time for the concert.
James came out sans jacket and with his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows. He said it was his turn to do *his* songs now…then laughed at his presumption, humorously holding a conversation with Shakespeare, saying, “Oh yeah? Who’s dead!“ LOL! As previously mentioned, James managed to squeeze his entire set--18 songs with commentary and encore!--into an hour! He stuck to all his romantic songs in honor of it being Valentine‘s Day, though I’m not sure if the sad, broken-hearted songs should qualify as romantic! He did say he tried to remove those, but that so many of them *were*… *helpless shrug* Heh!
The set {with some >(commentary notes)}:
London City
>(Introduced “Chow” his South Korean “partner” guitar, which has traveled the world with James “making love to lots of people”)
Looking at You
Layabout
>(He mentioned his son and how far advanced he is in guitar playing now, as to be better than James himself, and said we’d meet him someday, he *so* wants to play for us--begging his dad to take him on the road and saying he’s good and he’d work cheap--LOL!)
Too Fast
All That She Wanted
>(nod to sound guy, Randy)
Dangerous
>(He then started singing the opening few bars to “David Letterman”, then stopped and laughed, saying he always wants to do that. NOTE: DL follows “Dangerous” on the GotR album, “Mad Brilliant“)
This Town
Over Now/Poor Robyn (I can never remember which is the title now!)
>(James said this was the room with the most cool people in all of NY and NJ, because the title “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” keeps those without imagination or intelligence out of the room. “Do yourself a favor, meet someone you don’t know tonight; you will be happy the rest of your life!” James loves his ‘community‘!)
Dance Slow (me-YAY! Love this song and he doesn‘t often do it)
Up on Me
For What I Need
Goodbye
Fall of Night
>(James announced he has two more songs, then he’ll “pretend to go away, and you all gotta be all rambunctious and stuff; call me be back so I can feel good about myself, OK? *self-deprecating giggle*” LOL!)
Angel (“Needless to say that was for Helena, wherever you are”)
>(a new Katie story is below)
Katie
>(“I’m going to pretend to go away, and you pretend to go crazy”)
Encore:
>(with a chuckle and a “yeah” he then says “Oh, I’m gonna be full of myself on the phone tonight! [in pseudo-smug voice] You know, I‘m really cool!” LOL!)
Smile
Finer Than Gold
>(he said this was his most recent, but he said he would start writing again soon)
MoonShot
He then thanked us -- because of us he has had a “fulfilled and interesting life“, one he never would have had if we didn’t “show up to watch me do my weird shit, man” LOL! He then asked if the person who’d asked for the set list was there (no) so he crumpled it up and threw it as hard as he could and said “Sorry everyone else!” Then he said “I love you all!” and that was the end.
He sounded good and had a lot of other funny and interesting repartee in between songs as usual; however, this one story stands out the most for me…
James’ song “Katie” was first introduced in Chicago 2003 as part of the Ghost of the Robot set list. At that time, he told the story of a crew member on Buffy that he’d taken a fancy to, but who had turned him down for a date. Later, when they were playing in San Francisco, he added that she was probably gay (after watching two girls fooling around with each other in front of him during the song, I always assumed, since I was there and saw it all), and the “She was gay” story stuck. Fast forward to this concert. James said he very recently had an interesting twist happen and a follow up story to tell about Katie…
When he did “Lie to Me“, a guy in the Prop Dept came up and told James his song Katie was about his wife! He then showed James a picture of her…in the hospital with their baby. James then told us the full story: At the time, he wanted to ask her out but he was kind of hesitant--she worked in props dept. on “Buffy“--but he had determined that he wanted to seek out a woman who had had a decent relationship with her father (so she would see he was a decent man), as he felt that such a woman would be better in a relationship with him (he said he’d been dating successively hotter women who were worse and worse for him, and he wanted to break that cycle). As Katie had the ”Dad” tattoo on her neck, he was interested. So, he went to her coworker, a young gay guy in her department, and asked him if she was single or if she was with someone. He did this humorous imitation of the coworker giving him ’the evil eye’ with arms folded and telling him, in a flat, *rolls eyes* kind of tone, “No, James, she’s not single, she’s with someone.” James apparently took his reply--and the tone and manner it was given in--to mean she was gay, and gave up. He said when he wrote the song, he didn’t know if she was gay, and after asking about her and getting this reply, ignorance piled on ignorance over time. He then said, it goes to prove that one should never give up, but that it had a happy ending for him “named Patricia”. I admit, I got a huge kick out of hearing the full story after all these years of hearing the evolving tale of “Katie”!
And that’s it, except to say I will be eternally delighted over this weekend. Yes, the event was a tad costly, but I have absolutely no regrets, even when I’m eating Ramen for the 5th --or 15th-- day in a row (kidding), or avoiding the mall because I don’t have extra money to burn. Not that I care--I’ve never really been all that hung up on keeping up with the Joneses--no need for owning the latest gadget, no desire for season court-side tickets to the Knicks, no must-have the latest crappy but ridiculously-expensive-for-no-reason designer fashions--it’s not my thing. (I make a terrible Capitalist. No over-consumption of goods for me!) As I see it, you can’t take ‘stuff’ with you when you die, anyway; if there is an existence after this one, I figure only your memories and experiences--what’s in your mind and heart--will go along with you. And I am quite rich there--a loving family; a lifetime of memories of things I’ve done and seen, because I allow myself to actually live life now while I can; a wonderful gaggle of friends both in and out of fandom, and James… The whole Valentine’s weekend merely enriched me that much more.
It was a blast seeing and talking to so many people while getting the card signed--newbies (Hi Karo, Vicky, Adrian and Chad!) and old friends (there’s too many to name, but you guys know who you are!) alike. Reconnecting--reaffirming Community. Oh and it was a blast hanging out with *that guy*, too. ;) All in all, it was a weekend I will never forget, even among the wealth of memories I already have of James! I am a millionaire, indeed!
Peace
Patti :)